The Sistine
Chapel is a chapel of the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican built
for Pope Sixtus IV, after whom it was named. In 1508 Pope Julius
II commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to decorate its vault or
ceiling, a task he completed in 1512. Between 1536 and 1541,
Michelangelo painted the Last Judgment on the altar wall for Pope
Paul III.

It is in the
Sistine Chapel, before the imposing painting of the Last Judgment,
that the Cardinal Electors gather to choose a Pope. It is also here
where the newly deceased Pope is viewed by the members of the Papal
Household and the College of Cardinals, before being taken to lay in
state in St. Peter’s Basilica for public visitation.